THE TABARISTAN SERIES
The Dābūyid Ispahbads
278, Lot: 479. Estimate $200. Sold for $300. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee. |
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Dābūyid Ispahbads of Tabaristan. Farrukhān. PYE 60-77/9 / AH 93-110/2 / AD 711-728/30. AR Hemidrachm (24mm, 2.05 g, 3h). Dated PYE 65 (AH 98 / AD 716). Crowned Sasanian-style bust right; “May
xvarrah increase” in Pahlavi behind, “Farrukhān” in Pahlavi before; open double circle border with star-in-crescent motif at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock / Fire altar with attendants flanking; star and crescent flanking flames, date to left, mint to right; triple circle border with alternating star-in-crescent and triple pellet motifs. Malek 6. Near EF, attractively toned.
From the J. P. Righetti Collection. Ex UBS 62 (25 January 2005), lot 6 (part of).
Following the assasination of Yezdegird III in AD 651, Tabaristan was ruled by the Dābūyids (Dabwayids) for a little over a century, although hemidrachms and some very rare bronze issues were only struck in the latter half of the dynasty. In AD 761 Muslims conquered the region, at first issuing hemidrachms in the name of Khushīd, the last Dābūyid Ispahbads, later striking imitative coinage either issued anonymously or carrying the name of an ‘Abbasid governor of the region.